Chinese company BYD sold more electric cars in the last three months of 2023 than Elon Musk's Tesla cars.
On Monday, BYD announced that it sold 526,000 battery-only vehicles in the last quarter of 2023.
In 2023, Tesla's sales numbers were less than BYD's sales numbers.
Tesla announced that it delivered 484,500 electric cars in the last three months of 2023 and 1.8 million for the year as a whole. Year-end performance was better than analysts expected, as sales rose 20% compared to the same period in 2022.
Last January, Musk said Tesla had the potential to reach two million deliveries by 2023. The company has repeatedly reduced prices to attract buyers.
By 2023, Shenzhen-based BYD has sold more than 3 million new energy vehicles (NEVs), including battery-only vehicles and hybrids.
Almost 1.6 million of its total sales were made up of battery-powered cars alone.
BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu founded BYD with his cousin in Shenzhen in 1995.
The company has become known as a maker of rechargeable batteries used in smartphones, laptops and other electronics, competing with more expensive Japanese imports.
Analysts say BYD owes its growth to its original business - batteries. They are among the most expensive parts of an EV, and bringing them in-house saves BYD a lot of money.
Many of BYD's competitors rely on third-party manufacturers for batteries.
BYD's battery business helped give it the flexibility to cut prices sharply at the end of 2023, and posted a 70% increase in sales in December alone.
